Four months after announcing its purchase of compliance tech firm IM Secure, internet security specialist Zone Labs is itself being acquired by Israeli firm Check Point Software for a rich $205 million, or for about $1 million per employee.

Check Point is a firewall and VPN provider which claims as its customers 97 of the Fortune 100. With the purchase, the company obtains Zone Labs' 25+ million customers worldwide (many of whom use the company's free software download).

As we reported last August, security firms Symantec, Verisign, and Network Associates have all made high-profile, high-value acquisitions in the last year. For industry followers, that an Israeli firm now steps into the M&A arena comes as no surprise.

According to a WebWeek article, Check Point's three founders are all veterans of an Israeli army unit that linked up computer systems:

“‘The army was an excellent incubator,’ said Shlomo Kramer, a Check Point founder. ‘Israelis are obsessed by security,’ said Lior Arussy, the marketing director for Finjan Software.”

Ovad Tal, founder of Israeli security group Girit Projects Inc. agrees, "Nobody knows security systems like the Israelis. Security is a must in Israel, not a privilege."